AM

02/19/18

Blogging 101

What is a “Blog”?

History of Blogging

• Justin Hall is often

credited as one of the

first bloggers

• Justin's blog dates back

to January 1994 and is still

active

• Justin’s inspiration was Ranjit Bhatnagar, a

programmer who blogged about his

lunch menu every day

• Jorn Barger, a fellow blogger, on

December 1999 coined the term

“weblog” and “weblogging”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorn_Barger

• Peter Merholz, a programmer, shortened

the “weblog” to “blog.”

• Peter’s blog archive:

https://web.archive.org/web/1999100816

2407/http://robotwisdom.com:80

• Information with dated entries

• Updated regularly

Blog criteria:

• Blog Search engines like Technorati

• Blog Directory Listings on Yahoo, AltaVista

or link exchanges found on other blogs

and websites

How did people discover

blogs?

• Open Diary in 1998

• Pitas.com in1999

• Pyra’s Blogger in August 1999

First Blog building tools:

• Forbes.com: 1 billion websites (September

of 2014)

• 1,000 websites created every single minute

– Websites + blogs

• Bill Gates - “Content is king!”

Blogs Today:

Blogging Platforms:

• Blogger.com

• Tumblr.com

• Medium.com

• TypePad.com

• LiveJournal.com

• WordPress.com

• Weebly.com

• Yola.com

• Wix.com

• Bravenet.com/blogs

Self-hosted & others:

• WordPress.org

• Joomla.com

• Jekyllrb.com

• Posthaven.com

• Postagon.com

• Ghost.org

• Silvrback.com

• Bolt.cm

• Wardrobecms.com

• Contentful.com

• Anchorcms.com

Popular Blogs on the Web:

• Huffington Post

– Founded: 2005

– Topics: world news, entertainment,

politics, business, style among others

• Buzzfeed

– Founded: 2006

– Topics: technology, business, politics

and more

– Target market: Millennials

• Mashable

– Founded: 2005

– Topics: video entertainment, culture,

tech, science, business, social good

and more

• TechCrunch

– Founded: 2005

– Topics: technology, computers, internet

culture, social media, products,

websites and startup companies

• The Next Web

– Founded: 2008

– Topics: news, apps, gear, tech,

creativity and so much more

• Engadget

– Founded: 2004

– Topics: videos, reviews and features

about technology

• Gizmodo

– Founded: 2002

– Topics: tech and digital culture

(delivering information and news about

consumer electronics)

How Do You Start a Blog?

• Read other blogs

• Research things first – find your niche

• Check out blogging tips

://www.bloggingbasics101.com

Explore Different Blogging

Platforms:

• BLOGGER

• WORDPRESS

• WEEBLY

• WIX

• DREAMWIDTH

Earn While You Blog:

• Patreon.com - Build around fan base

• Google AdSense

• Amazon affiliate program

Market Yourself:

• Free:

– Google Search

– Bing Search

– BlogLovin

• Paid (by the user):

– Google AdWords

– Bing Ads

– Facebook Ads

– Twitter Ads

Want a copy of this presentation?

Visit www.skokielibrary.info/handouts

where this presentation will be available

for four weeks.

Thank You